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Deutsche Telekom has cemented its position as the most valuable telecoms brand in Europe, as Orange overtook Vodafone and Telecom Italia (TIM) delivered the highest growth among the continent’s leading operators.

The findings are part of Brand Finance’s latest ranking of the 300 most valuable telco brands, which reveal AT&T remained the world leader and Huawei is again the top vendor.

Deutsche Telekom, which has seen its brand value jump 10.2 percent over the past 12 months to reach $40.15 billion, said it had delivered continuous growth since the T brand was relaunched in 2008.

Brand Finance Analyst Lorenzo Coruzzi and Consultant Vinchy Chan told European Communications that the Germany-based operator’s financial performance, strong network as well as customer acquisition and retention were key to its continued success.

Another operator in the “one to watch” bracket is Altice, which made its debut on Brand Finance’s ranking as the 24th most valuable brand in Europe.

The company is in the middle of rebranding all its opcos, including SFR in France and Portugal Telecom, under the Altice name.

However, it has ongoing financial concerns as investors worry about its debt pile in particular.

“The company’s share price fell off a cliff due to a negative surprise in its Q3 2017 earnings results," Coruzzi and Chan said.

“We are watching how Altice will restore its value proposition and differentiate itself to lead the competition with a new brand strategy.

“They are embracing a ‘masterbrand’ strategy and we’ll see the results by mid-2018.”

Both Vodafone and Altice could take lessons from TIM, which saw its brand value jump 33.3 percent to $8.66 billion last year.

But Luca Josi, TIM’s Head of Brand Strategy and Media, told European Communications he is not keen to share the secrets of his success.

“If I had a teaching, and this represented a competitive advantage, I could not share it,” he said.

The exec, who said Batman was the brand he admired most outside of telecoms, has presided over a rebrand that took place in 2016.

With typical Italian flair, the operator chose the medium of dance to communicate to customers what the new brand is all about.

“We have developed a distinctive and original communication format based on dance that...has an increasing viral success, generating aggregation and engagement,” Josi explained.

Coruzzi and Chan said: “[TIM] went from portraying itself as a simple telephone operator to a technological player offering innovative products and services through the development of enabling platforms, from fixed and mobile ultra-broadband networks to cloud computing through to next generation IT.”

TIM was the seventh most valuable telecoms brand in Europe, ahead of O2, Three and Telenor.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Vodafone finished ahead of BT in fourth place, Movistar in fifth and Sky in sixth.